“Shoot, there’s not much difference between (the CFP and BCS),” says South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. “You’re still relying on someone else’s opinion.”

An opinion you can’t see or hear or comprehend, thank you.

And you were upset because Jeff Sagarin’s ELO Chess theory may as well have been the Pythagorean theorem. Coming soon to a postseason near you: we vote, we don’t tell you how we voted, you take it as gold.

Suckers.

The CFP wants you to know that they’re working for you, Joe Sixpack. They expanded the championship round of the college postseason from two teams and one game to four teams and three games because you asked for it after the big, bad SEC put two teams in the BCS Championship Game in 2011 — and sonofagun, the university presidents heard your voice.

That, and the collective voices of network and cable television tripping over themselves to pay boatloads of broadcast cash for a “playoff.” Yet here’s the dirty little secret:

We haven’t eliminated controversy from college football, we’ve expanded the window of engagement. Who plays, who gets left out and which conference(s) gets the shaft.

We’ve turned up the volume on controversy like never before because that’s the way the CFP wants it. Controversy sells — just like the controversy of the BCS helped grow college football from a regional sport to the national, revenue-generating behemoth it is now.

Those who hated polls and hated the fact that seven computer geeks somehow had control of your beloved game, better get used to this reality: you’ve exchanged 120-plus poll voters for 13.

And the new 13-member CFP committee has absolutely zero accountability because you’re not going to know how each member voted. That’s right, not one individual vote — from the end of October to the last week of the regular season — will be made public. Not one.

Wait, it gets much better. There will be one spokesperson for the 13 football-centric minds; one Bill Parcells head of state with one voice and one stage.

So when the SEC or the Pac-12 gets two teams in this year’s playoff, we’ll all look to committee chairman and Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long to explain why. Think of all those awkward post-NCAA tournament interviews with committee chairmen trying to explain why Evansville didn’t get in the Field of 68.

Now exchange Evansville for, I don’t know, say, Alabama.

You’re Updyke-crazy if you think that very familiar scenario won’t play out again and again going forward. When it does, good luck getting information from the fine folks at the CFP in explaining their complicated tiered formula of voting, a convoluted system based solely on eliminating transparency — the very thing the framers of this system said was the foundation of the “playoff.”

“I’m not sure how it all works,” said Oregon coach Mark Helfrich. “But I didn’t understand the other system, either.”

Imagine, everyone, a system that crowns a national champion with no real playoff or poll. A system that promotes transparency, but delivers an obscure concept that must be good because, well, because it’s a playoff!

You wanted it. Now sit back and choke down everything that goes with it.

2. Green and gold and bronze all over

He waited four years to start at Baylor, then last season accounted for 49 touchdowns and more than 4,800 yards. Yet one play — one failure — stands out in a personal season for the ages: a slip near the goal line on the first series of the Oklahoma State game, a loss that cost Baylor a shot at the BCS National Championship Game.

That’s just what the rest of the Big 12 needs, a motivated Petty. The guy who had an unreal 10.42 yards per attempt average last year; who threw just three interceptions in 405 attempts, gets a second season in coach Art Briles’ quarterback friendly offense.

QB Jameis Winston, Florida State: If two guys named Tebow and Johnny Football — the two biggest stars/personalities of the BCS era — couldn’t win back-to-back trophies, what in the world makes anyone think Winston can?

3. Taking stock of the Power 5

ACC

Buying: Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech.

Selling: Clemson, Miami.

Stock report: The biggest obstacle for FSU might be the last game of the regular season — and that’s only if Florida (more on that later) gets it right again. UNC coach Larry Fedora will turn a 10-win season into an elite Power 5 job, and Al Golden’s job gets a lot tougher with a big step back.

Stock report: Overlook Urb at your own peril, people. If you don’t think Meyer will have a one-time elite quarterback recruit (JT Barrett) ready to play Week 1, you obviously haven’t been watching this guy coach. Meanwhile, in the land of underachieving, I’m banking on those elite offensive line recruits of the last two years to give Michigan some control at the line of scrimmage.

Stock report: Enough about Oregon, Stanford and UCLA, let’s zero in on the fascinating world of Chris Petersen leaving Boise State for Washington. The talent is there, the quarterback (Cyler Miles) could be elite and the Huskies get Stanford and UCLA at home. I’m starting to smell surprise team of 2014.

Stock report: Maybe it’s not too late to revise Sporting News’ picks for the College Football Playoff — cause I’m not feeling Alabama after this uneventful fall camp for QB Jacob Coker. In the last six years at Alabama, QBs John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron combined to throw 31 interceptions. That’s about five a year, a number Tide coach Nick Saban might get in the first game alone from Coker and/or Blake Sims.

4. Bowl relief in sight

Penn State travels to Ireland this weekend to play UCF in a game that unofficially serves as the Lions’ bowl game.

And maybe its last season-opener bowl game.

Two sources within the NCAA say Penn State, if it continues to “reach and go beyond” benchmarks set by the NCAA in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, will have a “strong case” to get its final year of postseason probation lifted.

As early as next week, George Mitchell, Penn State’s athletics integrity monitor, will release his second annual report on the state of the university’s athletics programs. The NCAA last year restored some scholarships after Mitchell’s first report that, according to one NCAA source, “reached well beyond expectations.”

A similar report this time around, and new coach James Franklin gets some breathing room with the job of navigating the two toughest years (2014-15) because of scholarship reductions. At the very least, he could have a postseason to sell to the 2015 recruiting class.

So Roper jumped all-in with his pass-happy spread offense, and is one of a handful of key coordinator hires this offseason. It’s not just that Florida hasn’t had a 1,000-yard wide receiver since 2002 (Roper had three in the last two years at Duke), it’s that the Gators will still rely on quarterback Jeff Driskel to make it all work.

Before Driskel broke his leg in Week 3 and was lost for last season, he had two touchdowns and three interceptions against three teams whose defenses finished 87th (Toledo), 89th (Miami) and 83rd (Tennessee) in the nation.

Just in case, you know, that means anything.

Three other key coordinator hires:

— Jeremy Pruitt, Georgia. Was at FSU all of one season and won a national championship with the nation’s No. 1 defense. Now he arrives at a place that has similar personnel, but struggled mightily last season to stop anyone (78th in the nation in scoring defense).

Pruitt lost star safeties Tray Matthews and Josh Harvey-Clemons and defensive tackle Jonathan Taylor from the unit (off-field problems) over the summer. Yet there is this intriguing omen: Pruitt has won a national title in each of the last three years he has coached (two as secondary coach at Alabama; one at FSU), and Georgia clearly has the talent to make it four in a row.

— Doug Nussmeier, Michigan: Somehow, some way, Michigan — big, strong, physical Michigan — averaged 3.3 yards per carry last season. The Wolverines have had one tailback rush for more than 1,000 yards since 2008; Nussmeier’s running backs at Washington (2009-2011) and Alabama (2012-13) reached 1,000 yards in each of the last five seasons, and in 2008 at Fresno State, his running backs combined to run for more than 2,300 yards.

— Don Pelham, Oregon: He has done it all at Oregon; from playing four years as a linebacker in the early 1980s, to a 20-plus-year career as a position coach. Now he’s in the untenable position former DC Nick Aliotti had been for all those years: if only Oregon’s defense could deliver like its offense.

Welcome to your first big gig, Don. If Oregon doesn’t make it to the College Football Playoff this fall, it no doubt will be because its defense couldn’t deliver.

7. Here comes the hurt

On the anniversary (and rematch) of the original You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me, we bring you the best hope at Week 1 upsets from those poor, understaffed and overmatched FCS teams just trying to hang on.

Jacksonville State vs. Michigan State: Understand this: the Gamecocks are good enough to win the FCS national title this fall, and Michigan State might be just bored enough to let something crazy happen. Jax State’s multiple offense with FCS All-American TB DaMarcus James will be a significant test for the Spartans’ revamped defense.

North Dakota State vs. Iowa State: Be honest, is this really an upset? The three-time defending FCS national champions against an I-State team coming off its worst season since Gene Chizik went 2-10 in 2008 — and got the Auburn job.

Northern Iowa vs. Iowa: Here are the Hawkeyes, everyone: the trendy pick to throw the season sideways and reach the CFP. Iowa should have lost to Northern Iowa in 2009, and could have lost in 2012. Remember this name: UNI DT Xavier Williams, a 300-pound beast that will cause all kinds of problems for the Iowa run game.

8. Primed on the Palouse

I’m not saying it, but I’m saying it: Washington State is going to be playing for the Pac-12 North Division title in November.

Years ago when Leach was at Texas Tech, his third team won nine games and developed into a significant factor in the then-Big 12 South Division. Kliff Kingsbury, in his third year as the starting quarterback for Leach, threw for more than 5,000 yards and 45 TDs.

Fast forward to 2014, and that’s Connor Holliday entering his third season as quarterback for Leach at Wazzu, after last year leading the Cougars to their first bowl game since 2003 and throwing for 4,597 yards and 34 TDs.

“You get that long in his system, and everything you do is second nature,” Kingsbury said. “That’s when it starts to really get fun.”

What can Connor Halliday do for Washington State after an already-huge season in 2013? (AP Photo)

9. The Good Guys

The tents are still there, lining the horizon as far as you can see when the boat pulls into Port-au-Prince. Four years after the earthquake, they’re still living in makeshift hovels in Haiti.

“It’s not because they can’t build homes,” says Pitt DE David Durham. “It’s because all the lives that were lost when those homes crashed down. They’re safer in a tent.”

While the offseason in college football was full of bad news — double-digit arrest for sexual assault, the Air Force Academy scandal and alleged academic fraud at Notre Dame to highlight the lowlights — it’s time we celebrate those who do things the right way.

Welcome to the weekly Good Guy Award, where we honor those who, despite the rigors of playing football and going to school, have the time and desire to give back.

Durham’s dad played at Ole Miss, his uncle played at Georgia Tech and the common goal with two generations of Durham men: pay it back. That’s why David volunteers at the greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, and why he helps local elementary school children during its after-care program.

And why earlier this spring, he hopped on a plane, flew to Haiti and got out of his comfort zone during a mission trip.

“We, as student athletes, have an obligation to give back,” Durham said. “We have been given so much with this opportunity to go to school and play football. I truly believe we have a duty and responsibility to share that same blessing with others.”

10. Almost Heaven

I don’t know about you, but I’m blown away by the guts of West Virginia QB Clint Trickett.

Not because of his confidence in playing Alabama on Saturday at the Georgia Dome, but because of his sheer chuztpa in bragging earlier this week about stealing the first kiss of his life in sixth grade — with Nick Saban’s daughter.